Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Tahir Ali, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at Montage Health

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Tahir Ali, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at Montage Health · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

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  - This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Tahir Ali,
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  chief Technology Officer,
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  and Chief Information Security Officer at Montage Health.
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  Tahir. It's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
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  - Same here. Thank you for having me.
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  - Well, I'm really looking forward
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  to our conversation in getting a sense of
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  what you're doing at Montage Health
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  and really on the technology side.
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  I know there's so many exciting things happening,
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  but also a lot of movement on the cybersecurity side
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  and a lot to keep on top of.
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  So I, I'm really excited to dive deeper into that with you.
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  But before we do that,
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  can you tell us a little bit more
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  about yourself and your background?
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  - Of course. Um, so, uh, my background
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  starting from college, I, I did my undergraduate in computer
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  and mathematical sciences, then took, um, uh,
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  computer science, uh, master's classes.
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  And then from there, i, I really, you know, started, um,
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  honing in, um, uh, more and more computer science.
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  So, um, started doing heavy Unix
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  and system, uh, programming and administration.
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  And then, um, from there became more of a storage person,
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  then virtualization, then network and so on and so forth.
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  Um, I was, um, at NYU Langone Medical Center, um,
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  where my kind of boss told me, Hey,
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  you know, so many different things.
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  We want you to become an architect.
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  And, um, a great, great person.
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  His name is, uh, um, Jim Song, uh, um, so he, he said, Hey,
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  see, what would it take for you to be an architect?
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  And I was like, all right. So I started looking.
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  A couple of months later, I go to him
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  and I was like, I have really no
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  idea what that really means.
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  You know, I'm a keyboard person. Give me a keyboard.
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  If you have a problem, I will try to, you know, fix
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  that issue for you.
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  So he goes, okay, take a look at things
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  and see if you can, you can go to classes
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  and become an architect.
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  So I became an enterprise architect.
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  I did this whole certification and,
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  and took me six months to become an architect.
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  That really changed how I looked at technology,
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  and that's where I realized how technology
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  should be set up to provide business solutions,
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  how we can expedite everything that a business does, how
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  we can provide more financial stability to the business and,
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  and how is technology really the,
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  the underpinning of everything that a business needs.
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  Now, as the time really passed, I became more
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  and more, um, healthcare technology
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  aware, and,
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  and as the time passed, I became more
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  and more aware that more technology,
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  better technology, simpler technology
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  can really change healthcare.
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  So I really fell in love with, with that idea of how
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  technology can provide better healthcare.
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  And I have done that for last maybe decade
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  and a half doing nothing
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  but trying to improve healthcare through technology.
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  - Well, that's an amazing journey, um, to really be
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  where you're at today
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  and truly to see it as you have done, um,
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  leverage technology to make healthcare better,
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  healthcare delivery, healthcare operations, just every part
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  of it, um, really seems like it can benefit from the
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  technology side of things.
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  So that's really cool to hear how you, uh,
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  came into your current role
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  and now, you know, what are some of the biggest issues
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  that you're following today?
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  What's top of mind for you?
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  - So, um, couple of things.
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  Number one, um, um, I'm both the chief technology officer
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  and, uh, chief Information Security officer.
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  Um, things are that, that,
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  that are really prevalent these days is
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  cybersecurity for healthcare.
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  Cybersecurity is paramount.
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  We are, we are under attack from different nations from
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  different organizations.
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  So that, that is something that, that we look forward
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  to defending.
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  Now, uh, on the other side, um,
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  being a chief technology officer, we are, we are looking at,
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  um, more of a machine learning, more of ai, um,
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  making sure that data is pristine so we can do a lot
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  of the machine learning and,
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  and AI individually for, for our healthcare,
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  and then also both of them bridging together.
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  How can we use newer technology to defend ourselves?
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  So we are looking at more AI driven, uh, security tools
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  that can automate the defense mechanism
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  as much as possible.
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  That said, there's always advancement on both sides, so
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  bad actors are always, you know, already using ai.
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  So we have to kind of catch up
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  and figure out what we can do to defend our, our, um,
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  uh, um, healthcare records for our patients.
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  So that is really something that we are really
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  concentrating on both sides.
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  One side is security,
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  the other side is more automation orchestration, um,
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  performance enhancement end of the day, we wanna make sure
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  that we can provide really superior, um,
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  healthcare to our patients.
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  So it all revolves around that, keeping it secure and fast
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  and the delivery of, of, um, EMR when,
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  whenever we need it, are the two things
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  that I am really balancing in 2024.
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  - That makes a lot of sense.
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  And certainly as you mentioned, you know, I think having
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  that artificial intelligence, machine learning strategy,
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  trying to, um, really keep data clean
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  and get it organized in a way that's going
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  to produce the best results,
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  I think is a huge, huge undertaking.
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  And then too, as you talked about cybersecurity
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  and the ever evolving, um, landscape and,
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  and threat actors that we're seeing out there, I can, um,
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  just imagine how big of a task that is to try
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  to stay ahead of it.
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  And so, you know, when you look at those dual role,
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  dual roles and, and really how much is changing
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  and how quickly, how do you stay on top
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  of all the different things happening in the space, what
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  are you really, um, doing, I guess, to make sure
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  that you know, your organization
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  and, um, your teams really, um, are secure as well
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  as leveraging technology in the best way possible?
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  - So, so there, there, there are a couple of things.
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  One, one of the biggest things is education.
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  I think providing enough education for people to understand
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  why we do what we do,
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  because what we do in, in IT is very different than
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  how it feels and looks like on, on the clinician side.
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  So, so we want to educate everyone who is part
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  of Montage Health so they can understand why certain things
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  work a certain way, why we block certain things, um, why we,
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  um, allow certain things.
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  So that, that, that is one of,
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  of the main things that we are working on.
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  Secondly, training our IT staff
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  to understand the bigger picture
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  and see what is coming, um, in, in,
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  in maybe next three months, six months
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  and 12 months, um, in the technology, uh, realm of things.
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  With those two, training our HIT, our IT staff
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  and making sure the education we provide
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  to the entire enterprise
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  so they understand why things work the way they work,
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  which is more streamlined, which we cannot change the things
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  that we block is why we block 'em.
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  I think that is a challenge that, that we are, we are kind
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  of looking forward to,
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  because at the end of the day, when you explain things right
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  to anyone and they understand it,
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  then it makes your life much easier
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  and your job much easier to do what is the right thing
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  to do for your enterprise.
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  So that's where we really stand today.
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  - Got it. That makes a lot of sense.
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  You know, it, it is such a valuable skill in order
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  to have translating and communicating effectively.
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  Um, and then thinking through, you know,
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  that big picture item to look down the line.
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  I, I know that's, um, such an important part of, of teams
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  that are forward looking and really operating at the best,
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  um, position they can be in.
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  It can be really easy
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  to get stuck into the day-to-day minutiae of tasks and,
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  and details, but then to have that ability to look forward
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  and understand the industry as a whole, um,
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  it just seems like that would be really valuable.
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  - Absolutely. - Now, you know, in looking ahead,
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  what are you most excited about
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  right now and what makes you nervous?
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  - So, so what I'm excited about really is, is figuring out
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  how we can deliver an palm of, you know,
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  somebody's hand, uh, um, healthcare.
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  Um, what I mean is everyone has a cell phone
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  or a smartphone the way a baby boomer uses, uh,
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  a smartphone versus Gen X uses a smartphone versus a
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  millennial uses a smartphone versus Gen Z
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  or even now generation alpha.
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  I think that is really challenging.
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  You know, they all use, um,
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  a technology on a very different, you know, sphere.
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  And I think, I think figuring out how we can satisfy
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  85 to 90% of everyone
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  who holds a smartphone is a challenge,
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  and I look forward to that every single day I wake up
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  and I, you know, I gotta figure out how I use it,
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  how my parents use it, how my nieces use it,
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  and then figure out what would be the best way to provide
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  sufficient technology or,
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  or application that can help them be well,
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  um, can help them be secure
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  and also help them, uh, uh,
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  help us provide them healthcare.
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  I think that is the most challenging
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  and it really excites me every single day.
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  I, I wake up, what scares me is,
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  is almost the same thing.
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  I think, um, um, the, the, the baby boomers
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  with, with how they,
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  they manage the technology is slightly different.
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  So, so having a phishing attack, having, having something
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  that is insecure, uh, bad actors, it, it's, it's different
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  with every single generation
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  because, you know, their mentality is different.
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  So managing that part on the security side is
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  what keeps me up every single night.
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  So I'm excited, and at the same time I worry about
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  how it's going to, to to turn out.
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  So it's kind of, you know, uh, like a bipolar kind of, uh,
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  personality where I have to kind of manage both sides of it,
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  the technology piece, and then
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  of course the security piece of it.
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  - Yeah, that's such an interesting point,
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  especially thinking about how, um, as you mentioned,
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  different employees, different, um, generations
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  and different mindsets when it comes to, um, the,
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  I I can imagine, um, technology hygiene and,
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  and how you manage and use those different devices.
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  Um, and you know, from your perspective, especially seeing
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  as how much the healthcare environment is changing,
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  what do you see as being essential
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  for the most effective healthcare leaders in order
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  to be successful in the next two to three years or so?
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  - I think, um, I think for, for, for a leader
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  to be a true leader, um, I think you have to, you have
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  to figure out
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  and then have some, some, uh, intelligent guesswork
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  in where the trends are going.
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  Of course, there's always, um, uh, uh, something
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  that comes in and there's a disruptor,
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  and then you have to reset yourself.
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  Um, if, if you take those out, you, you, you have
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  to manage how would it look like in the
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  next two to three years?
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  Because certain people in your group
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  are baby boomers.
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  There are certain group, uh, people in your group
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  that are Gen X and then so on and so forth,
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  and you have to manage them in a very different way
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  to be a successful leader.
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  Of course, there are, there's some core values of a,
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  of a leader who can be successful by listening,
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  by always being curious, by always, um, asking questions
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  and, and figuring out what is really required.
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  Now on the other side, understanding
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  more about the business of healthcare
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  would really help a lot of the leaders formulate their
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  roadmaps from security all the way to technology,
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  to having ML ai, having um, um, the data,
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  making sure the security is in place, making sure
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  that we can reach to your home to provide your
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  you health, healthcare.
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  Um, we also want
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  to make sure there's preventative healthcare
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  that is available to you in the palm of your hand, uh,
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  making sure that you, you look beyond
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  what is right in front of you
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  and kind of take, take the right steps and,
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  and, and better guess how it's going to look like,
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  and then formulate your, your, uh, roadmap.
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  I think that would be really a recipe for success.
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  Barring that, no, no other, um, um,
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  disruptors just like chat GPT or, or something kind of comes
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  and takes things, you know, to a, a different level.
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  I think that is what I personally think is
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  required on both sides.
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  Having a, a great IT team and managing that as a leader
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  and then also providing great value to the business
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  by formulating a great roadmap that, you know,
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  keeps the business intact
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  and your understanding of,
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  of healthcare business is extremely important.
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  - That's fantastic to hear,
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  and you know, really sums things up very well to hear.
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  Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today.
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  This has been such a fun conversation
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  and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
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  - Absolutely, same here. Have a wonderful rest of your day.